gould



(No Model.)

' A. J. GOULD.

, MAIL BAG.

No. 310,670. 7 Patented Jan. 13,1885.

WTI'RIEEESE'E I INVEN EIFQ.

@YQM 3\% lJNiTE STATES PATENT FFlQE,

ANDREAV .T. GOULD, OF QUINCY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HOVLAND M. BARSTOV, OF SAME PLACE.

MAIL-BAG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 310,670. dated January 13, 1885.

Application filed October 3, IFS l. (No model.)

To all whonb it may concern.-

Be it known that l, ANDREW .l'. (loo Ll), of Quincy, in the county of Plumas and State of lalifornia, have invented an Improved Mail- Bag; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full. and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this spccification Figure 1 being a view in perspective of a mail-bag provided with my improvement, the month of the bag being shown as open and the fastening-pin withdrawn; Fig. 2, a front view of the same, the mouth being shown closed and locked; Fig. 3, a cross vertical section of the month of the bag when closed, the view being on a larger scale than in the other figures; Fig. 4, a side view of the fasteningpin.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in all of the figures.

The main feature of my invention consists in a construction substantially as hereinafter set forth,whereby the fastening staples or eyes on one'side of the mouth of the bag are completely or substantially embedded or inclosed in and shielded by the other side of the mouth, especially constructed for the purpose, when the two sides or jaws are fastened or locked together. I also adapt to the said construction for protecting the fastening-staples from injury a fastening-pin,which is constructed to tightly and closely draw the staples into their places in the other jaw, and to hold them securely there against all violence or tendency to withdraw them, the said fastening-pin being also protected from bending orinjury. By these improvements the mail-bag is made perfectly secure in its fastening, the fastening parts are entirely protected against injury from any violence to which mail-bags are or ever should be subjected, and the bags are opened or closed quickly, easily, and conveniently.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the main or carrying side or jaw of the mouth of the mail-bag, and Bthe opposite or movable side or jaw of the ba The main side orjaw A is enlarged into a roll or thickcned lip, a, of sufficient diameter or thickness to receive the staples b b of the movable side or jaw B, and entirely surround and inclose,

edge. The staples I) b are situated vertically edgewisc, and when the mouth of the bag is shut they respectively are made to enter narrow cross mortises or openings ff, j ust large enough to receive them, in the roll or lip a. of

3, which represents a cross-seetion of the two jaws fastened together, the view being close beside one of the staples in one of the mortises or openings. This enlargement of the side or jaw A may be with any suitable material which will be somewhat flexible and yielding, so as to render the jaw not too rigid and not too hard and heavy, and yet possess sufficient firmness to resist violence and protect the staples and fastening-pin therein when the jaws are closed. I prefer sole leather or harness-leather for the purpose, andl[ preferably make it, as shown in Fig. 3, by employing a cylinder, g, of thick sole-leather surrounding a central cylindrical aperture running lengthwise through it of sufiicient diameter, say half an inch, to admit the fasteningpin 0 therein, and then surrounding this cylinder by another thickness, h, of leather, the edges of which are riveted or sewed to the upper edge, '5, of the side A of the bag. Suitable gussets, Yr, are or may be employed between the sides or jaws A B at the upper edges, to enable the mouth to be opened as widely as desired. These gussets shut in between the jaws of the bag when the mouth is closed, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3. The fastening-pin O is a straight round rod of metal, having its entering end Z somewhat tapering or conical, as shown in Fig. at, which adapts it to enter the staples b b, one after-another, even when they are not fully entered into their mortises or openings, and the staples are of such length in relation to the thickness of the roll a, of the jaw A that when the fastening-pin has entered them it draws and holds them tightly in place, and brings the movable jawinto close contact with the main jaw of the bag. Thus the whole fastening is the other jaw,A, as shown most clearly in Fig.

completely protected against violence, and is very strong and secure.

On the outer end of the fastening-pin -O is a suitable head or plate, m, by which the pin is locked in the jaw A by means of an ordinary hasp, n, on the side of the bag, and passed around the lower projecting end of the head or plate, and a padlock, D, passed through an eye, 0, of the said head or plate below the hasp; or any other suitable means may be employed for fastening and locking the pin in place. I j

With the construction set forth, in opening the bag when the lock and hasp have been separated from the pin, the latter is ready to simply and quickly withdraw from the jaw, and the two jaws are free to be opened. Then to fasten the bag the jaws are simply shut together, the staples readily entering their respective mortises in the roll a, and the fastening pin is then readily inserted endwise through the said roll, ready to be fastened by the hasp and secured by the padlock.

I claim as my invention 1. A mail-bag having a thickened side or 25 jaw, A, provided with mortises or openings f fin its side surface, adapted to receive and inclose the staples b b of the other jaw, 13, whereby the said staples are completely protected against violence and injury, substano tially as herein specified.

2. The combination of the jaw A, having the enlarged 13011 a, the staples b b on the other jaw, B, and the fastening-pin O, tapering at its entering end Z, substantially as and for 35 the purpose herein specified.

ANDREW J. GOULD.

Witnesses:

J. S. BROWN, A. S. BROWN. 

